The price of alloy-grade cobalt metal remained steady day-on-day on Thursday February 18, while the price of standard-grade cobalt moved higher, drawing the two price assessments back into parity, amid thin trading and with Chinese buyers still absent from the market.Fastmarkets' price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, was $22.95-23.75 per lb on February 18, up from $22.90-23...Read More
Domestic prices in Europe for steel cold-rolled coil increased over the week to Wednesday February 17 supported by a material shortage, sources have told Fastmarkets.Producers in the North of the EU have been reported as either offering late-second-quarter-rolling HDG or being sold out for second-quarter production. Some major producers in Germany have been already offering July-August production...Read More
Italian domestic steel scrap prices dropped in the month to Wednesday February 17, following the negative price trend that settled in the global market in the first half of the month, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel scrap, No E3 (old thick scrap), domestic, delivered mill, Italy, was ?,?310-325 ($374-392) per tonne on February 17, down by ?,?15-35 per tonne...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday February 18 that are worth another look.Italian steel distributors' association Assofermet has sent a letter to the European Commission highlighting distortion in the European Union carbon and stainless flat steel market caused by anti-dumping and safeguard measures.Low-carbon aluminium will be part...Read More
A shortage of containers to ship commodities around the world and the consequent soaring in associated freight rates have led to a revival of interest in breakbulk cargoes. Producers and physical traders of metals, agricultural, chemical and timber products have been starting to book shipments in breakbulk vessels, which cost far less and doesn't require vast amounts of equipment in port. On the m...Read More
The Biden administration's focus on US manufacturing and domestic supply chains will benefit established and developing minerals and metals sectors, including steel, rare earths, graphite and lithium.US President Joe Biden's executive order on the strengthening of American manufacturing, which he signed during his first week in office, is expected to have a direct effect on demand for US-produced...Read More
A key topic reverberating around the Asian steel market over the past month has been the possibility of China reducing steel export rebates to 9% from the current 13%, or possibly axing them altogether.Market chatter on this topic has grown increasingly louder, with industry sources in China hearing more and more details about these plans from late January onward."This is likely in line with China...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price rose to a seven-year high during trading on Thursday February 18, with positive macroeconomic sentiment and the return of Asian trading acting as catalysts for base metals prices. Nickel's three-month price reached $19,205 per tonne during Thursday, the first time it had touched above $19,000 per tonne since September 2014. It closed slightly low...Read More
If the sleeping giants (aka the industrial users of silver) awaken to what is happening, they will want to buy everything available, making the...Ed Steer on Palisades Gold RadioTom welcomes Ed Steer to the show, Ed writes a weekly subscriber column on the gold and silver markets. He brings us a bombshell overview of what is happening in the metals market.To subscribe to our newsletter and get not...Read More
Iron ore prices surged on Thursday February 18 on support from strong steel prices and positive sentiment regarding steel inventory, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $175.05 per tonne, up $8.17 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $175.50 per tonne, up $8.25 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $160.22 per tonne, up $7.56...Read More
If you view the price charts from the perspective of a bullion bank trader, then you can see where technical analysis is used against you... by Craig Hemke via Sprott Money NewsIt has been a long ten years, but it seems that the investing world is finally beginning to realize that the globally-recognized prices of gold and silver are managed and manipulated by the Bullion Banks, which operate as...Read More
Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices edged up on Thursday February 18, with Chinese market participants back from the Lunar New Year holiday, but there was still uncertainty over the direction of the cfr market, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $141.26 per tonne, up $0.06 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $217.48 per tonne, up $0.25 per tonne H...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: SHFE tailwind for LME pricesAs we are entering the traditional strong demand season, we expect Chinese aluminium demand to show further recovery, and we expect demand from existing end-user sectors, new infrastructure projects and the export sector to show some increases. As a result, we believe that S...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.These include an increase in our copper mine disruption estimates, upgrades to our production outlook for Indonesian nickel pig iron (NPI), a smaller refined zinc surplus, and an upgrade to our zinc price forecasts.Aluminium: Big disconnect between price and fundamentalsAluminium has extended its uptrend on the London Metal...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. We also review our price forecasting accuracy for the second quarter 2020.Q2 2020 price forecast performance review According to the results of Fastmarkets' Apex for the second quarter of 2020 published this week, Fastmarkets' base metals research team was the second most accurate price forecaster for nickel (99.06%), lead...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US hot-rolled coil prices moved in line with our forecasts in January, with actual prices modestly exceeding our forecasts for the month. Fastmarkets' US HRC index averaged $1,099 per ton in January, slightly above our forecast price of $1,075 per ton for the month. W...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The uptrend in European flat steel prices continued in January 2021 as expected, with the prices for hot-rolled coil in the North and South of the region averaging ?,?698 and ?,?686 ($840 and $826) per tonne respectively, within 1% of the Fastmarkets research forecasts.With European HRC prices climbing to their highest level...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The conequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on energy demand affected oil and gas prices through much of 2020 and weighed on drilling rates and demand for oil-country tubular goods (OCTG) in most regions.These effects were most likely to continue well into 2021 and perhaps longer, according to Fastmarkets OCTG Intelligence Serv...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. buoyant flat steel market and rising raw material prices resulted in large price rises for welded pipe products across all regions in January 2021.Increases in the price assessments for helical submerged arc-welded (HSAW) pipes were of the magnitude of $140-190 per tonne, with the exception of Europe, where prices were...Read More